This invention relates to a system and method for conveying, storing, and dispensing packing materials to a packing station for easy access and use by a worker, and in particular, to a system and method for enhancing the use of linked air bag type packaging.
Numerous finished goods and articles are packaged by business operations such as retail mail order, catalog, Internet electronic commerce, and wholesale merchants. Packing material is utilized to protect the goods from damage during shipping and receiving operations.
Various systems have been developed for transporting loose packing material. Such systems, for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,167,235 to Green, U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,372 to Smith, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,708,208 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,772 to Fuss, use ducts and fans to blow the granular packing material to a vertically dispensing hopper or tube. The loose, granular type materials, however, are difficult to handle and require substantial storage space.
Due to these difficulties, many operations use air bags linked together seriatim in a chain for packing containers. In a typical operation, the goods are distributed by a conveyor to a plurality of work stations where workers manually place the packing material into the shipping containers about the goods. Large, portable bins are used to transport the linked air bags from a forming machine where they are produced to the work stations. The workers can then grab the air bags needed from the bin and separate them from the chain for use in packing. Although the packing material is readily made and is easy to handle, additional workers are needed to cart the bins between the forming machine and the work stations. As a result, this type of material distribution system tends to be labor intensive, inefficient, and expensive.
Alternatively, a forming machine has been located at each work station so that the air bags are discharged directly into the bins. While this set up reduces the number of workers needed for the operation, costs are still high due to the need for many more forming machines. Moreover, the operation and maintenance of additional forming machines also adds to the cost of the operation.
The present invention is directed to a system and method for conveying, storing, and dispensing chain type air bags.
One aspect of the present invention includes a method and system for easing and improving the handling of a plurality of air bags formed in a continuous chain. The system includes an air pressurization device which provides a stream of air to transport the chain of linked air bags through a pathway from a source, such as a forming machine, to a hopper. A horizontal hopper receives the air bags from the pathway through an opening at one end. The hopper includes a plurality of dispensing ports to provide manual access to the bags by the workers.
In another aspect of the invention, auxiliary drives are provided at spaced intervals along the length of the hopper receiving the packing material. The auxiliary drives produce jets of air to convey the air bags throughout the length of the hopper so that many work stations can be served by a single hopper. The hopper further has venting surfaces that exhaust a volume of air from the hopper.
In another aspect of the invention, the hopper includes a transparent display surface for viewing the packaging material located inside the hopper. The ability to see the air bags within the hopper helps the workers efficiently operate the system. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent and fully understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, taken in connection with the appended drawings.